With much scrutiny over the Xbox One’s inclusion of Kinect in every box, we
sent Andy Robertson to Rare to discover whether Kinect Sports Rivals
will convert the naysayers.

Video-game rhetoric took a turn for the hyperbolic when Nintendo’s Wii Remote became a massive success in both game control and marketing terms. The resulting upswing in unusual interactions has certainly enriched our experience. Less welcome though has been the related over-promising of these devices with “real” family performers over-egging the pudding surround by beautiful soft furnishings.

Kinect initially seemed to have fallen fowl of this, but through Microsoft’s commitment and wide range of innovative games on the 360 it established itself as a genuine innovation. Beyond the quirky novelty, controlling a video-game just with bodily movement was something entirely new.

But still for consumers, the reality didn’t always match up to the marketing -- particularly in our dimly lit, small sized UK homes. When it worked it got the whole room smiling and engaged. When it didn’t it became a frustrating parody of the gleaming advertised experience.

With Xbox One, Kinect is not only back but it’s in the pack by default. This is a measure of Microsoft’s confidence in the Kinect 2 sensor, and for good reason. Redesigned in higher definition for more accuracy, less latency and quicker response times, the amount it can see is almost eerie.

Kinect Sports Rivals (which is released on April 11) is the first game to lean heavily on Kinect 2. Visiting Rare to get hands on with the game it was quickly apparent that this was a big step up from Kinect Sports on the 360.

Returning events Soccer, Bowling and Tennis are joined by three more ambitious and exuberant challenges; Target Shooting, Climbing and Wake Racing. Before you take your first swing though Kinect creates a virtual avatar by scanning both body and face with a surprising amount of accuracy. From here you sign up for one of the different teams in the game: Wolf Clan, Eagle Legion and Viper Network each with stylised team mates and plenty of back slapping.

As Rare unveiled the sports in full for the first time it was clear that plenty of thought had been put into both existing and new sporting activities. A focus on user testing, player feedback and the upped abilities of Kinect create a more competitive experience where skill and technique promise to champion exuberant enthusiasm. Not always the case in previous motion sports games.

Soccer has changed the most since Kinect Sports 360 now offering a challenge, like its American nomenclature, that focuses on hero moments rather than recreating the full run of (what we like to call) football. While it seemed a bit of a step backwards to not be able to control your defenders this ups the tempo as players switch between attack and goal keeping.

Here Kinect 2 makes a big difference, being able to track not only the direction your limbs are swinging but now also the angle of your foot and how you address the ball. This accuracy means you can apply all sorts of swerve and after touch to try and outsmart the keeper. While avoiding the stop start staccato of a penalty shoot out it certainly channels the adrenaline rush of score a set-piece goal with either foot or head.

By comparison, and Tennis get more of a refinement than overhaul. Here too though Kinect is telling. In Tennis you have much more control over the power of your shot, even effecting drop shots and lobs once you get the timing right. In Bowling you can achieve spin in more natural fashion as Kinect no longer has to extrapolate wrist motion from your limbs and can directly “see” the angle of both your hand and fingers.

Although less revolutionary, the improvements here are still substantial. Tennis now flows much better and invites more ambitious shots as confidence in the hands-free technology grows. This bodes well for multi-player modes, not least because Kinect can accommodate up to six players in its sights (providing there is space in the room for them) so two should be easily track-able.

Wake Racing is the first of the new entries and has been available in demo form since the Xbox One launched. Those who have tried this will know how absorbing an experience it is. Even small movements and shifts of weight will affect the Jet Ski. Players can, if they so wish, play this sitting down and Kinect simply adjusts the body distribution to match their seated play style.

As with each of the sports there are three power ups that can be earned. These are a combination of enhancements to player ability or distractions and hindrances for opponents. Applied with a voice command, or quick stamp on the floor, these add another level of strategy, particularly to the three new games.

Perhaps the most strategic is Target Shooting. Although it feels a little odd to be firing without a trigger (simply lining up with a target fires the shot) the accuracy and multi-layered challenge soon hook you in for more.

Stood in front of your shooting range you need to rapidly target various tokens, sometimes in a particular order or sometimes avoiding demerits. Every so often the targets appear above the back board, meaning that both you and your opponent can race to shoot them. Additionally there is a sentry gun that can be triggered to attack the other player and distract them from the task in hand – leaning left of right will avoid these attacks but make it harder to target at the same time.

Finally there are the usual run of power-ups and multipliers that need to be capitalised upon if you are going to come away with the highest score. Playing against a computer opponent was a challenge, but it’s against another person stood next to you in the living room where this really erupts into a knife edge, rib nudging competition.

This leaves Climbing, which plays to that same in-room competitiveness but turns it into a contact sport. The basic game is a simple one, use the pre-defined hand-holds to get to the top of the cliff as fast as possible. Playing the game you soon realise there is more to this than meets the eye.

Firstly, Kinect allows for a far greater reach than you expect. Initially players will slowly work their way up hand-holds one by one, but soon they realise that by greater bending, stretching and hauling much quicker progress is possible.

Once in reach of opponents it is possible to pull them off the wall physically, or use one of your power-ups to do the same. A better strategy however is to save power-ups for when you yourself are in danger of attack from below and then trigger them to shock the lower players from their climb. It’s a kind of risk-reward that felt not a million miles from Mario Kart’s red shells -- to use them or save them.

It’s here (seemingly) that Kinect Sports Rivals has picked up its PEGI 12 rating that to some may seem a little old. PEGI’s “non realistic looking violence towards human characters” is certainly a feature of this activity although where parents play the game with their children it seems that slightly younger players would also enjoy the game without harm (or perhaps a brief warning not to push or pull their siblings on the stairs).

Talking to Craig Duncan, Studio Head at Rare, it’s clear that the family market is one of their key demographics. “We do have this core mechanic where you can grab someone by the shorts off the rock face, they don’t get hurt but when you have those competitive dynamics then that’s what changes something from a PEGI 7 to a PEGI 12… We are absolutely family friendly.”

Duncan went on to talk about how crucial it is to have that Xbox One Kinect sensor in the box, and how that opens the door to a wider demographic of player. “With Kinect there’s a lot of good things we can do with sentiment and gesture, what it’s really been missing is that awesome game and we want [Kinect Sports Rivals] to be that. What pleases me about [having Kinect in the box] is that now I know that everyone has one it’s really a case of going and seeing what Kinect Sports Rivals can do.”

This brings us back to perhaps the biggest challenge for Rivals and Kinect in general; turning round the perception of some who have not had an ideal experience with it in the previous console generation. Duncan’s response was emphatic, “download the pre-season demo to try it. We’ve put a lot of work into knowing what those player friction points were with the first version of Kinect and try to address those where possible with messaging around experience and play space.”

Danny Isaac, Executive Producer on Kinect Sports Rivals, filled in the other (and perhaps more challenging) half of their message for the game; what it has to offer more avid older gamers. Talking about the launch timing Isaac suggested that the delay was to push how much expertise and polish the game could offer. “We’re much happier with what we have today. With a number of titles that come out too early it doesn’t tend to help build the experience we would want the consumer to have.”

The most refreshing part of our time with the game at Rare Studios was a frank understanding of how well the game performs in the home environment. Rather than the usual claims of perfection in all spaces, here the rhetoric had changed to be more realistic. Talk was about working with the technology to get the most out of it rather than a gadget that magically works 100 percent of the time will stand them in good stead with gamers of all kinds.

Isaac again, “Every player moves slightly differently, so there will still be some instances where, hey, it doesn’t perfectly work but if you listen to the instructions it can come down to some subtle nuances. As a gamer those are things I love to learn how to really get the best out of a game.”

Try your hand at a bit of climbing

“I remember one conversation with a father who didn’t play the game much because he didn’t feel like he could really compete... We found that everyone wants to feel like they’ve won or lost because of what they did. With Kinect Sports Rivals more core players can compete and have a real challenge.”

This is where having an experienced team like Rare Studios on the first big Xbox One Kinect game will pay dividends. Common sense has prevailed in delivering not only what looks to be a best in class motion sports experience, but also a sensible marketing message to go with it.

It’s also a strong (if little tardy) reason for Microsoft including Kinect with every Xbox One and certainly bodes well for more imaginative and creative uses of the hands free controller from other developers.

Kinect Sports Rivals released 11th April in Europe and 8th April in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Andy Robertson is a freelance family gaming expert for the BBC and runs Family Gamer TV.